D-I-Y Watertank Installation

Installing water tanks on your own does not need knowledge in civil engineering or professional experience in plumbing. This article will guide you through the process of installing one on your own.

If you’re trying to find a location for your tank, try to find someplace out of the way, where it does not fully block a passing and there’s ready access to a down-pipe from a big roof catchment. Do not put it across access hatches under the home or places that make it block a window. Tanks that are full of water are heavy, with every litre of water weighing 1 kilo. Hence a 2500-litre tank weighs in excess of 2.5 tonnes when full. Little tanks can be mounted on paving slabs or compacted road base, but bigger tanks are best mounted on a 100mm-thick poured concrete slab. Check with the local council concerning some regulations regarding water tanks in your town.

Gather your supplies:

  • Formwork sides (2)125 x 25 x 2850mm walnut
  • Formwork finishes (2)125 x 25 x 650mm walnut

You will also want:

To get a 2800 x 650 x 100mm thick slab: 2700 x 550 x 2020mm tank; wood pegs; place – outside paint; 2-3 bags washed sand; 7mm steel reinforcing mesh; 150 x 1.25 Millimeter tie cable; 50-65mm pub seats; premixed bagged concrete (20-21 luggage); cement mixer (hired); rain head; first flush diverter kit; 90mm PVC pipe and fittings; poly pipe and connectors; poly ball valve; backyard faucet

Here is how…

  1. Pick a suitable area that’s available and complies with local council tips; here, the tank is no nearer than 450mm to the border. Eliminate anything that could rust beneath the slab. In general, choose things that are of the same material used to clean drains.
  1. Purchase tank. Steel water tanks advertised for sale are typically custom made, and that means it’s possible to customize yours to fit your needs or constraints. As an example, you have a tank that is 2700 x 550mm in dimensions and 2020mm tall, providing a capacity of under 2870 litres. With this tank, create formwork 2800 x 650mm inner sizes. This permits a 50mm skirt of concrete about the outside of all the tank all of the way around. Twist sides of formwork to finishes.
  1. Utilise formwork to indicate the size of excavation required on the ground utilising set-out paint. Don’t break slab straight in your garage or house footings
  1. Excavate to a typical thickness of 50mm. Assess that excavated surface is flat.
  1. Place formwork back in position and push pegs around the perimeter wherever potential. Drive to under top border of formwork or cut off level together with formwork using a saw.
  1. Twist pins to formwork from external, assessing that formwork stays level by increasing and lowering pegs as necessary. If formwork is level and solid, you don’t have to fret about your ground level after you get started with pouring concrete, as you’re able to be directed by the top in the formwork. This makes completing concrete simpler. In areas where wet concrete can get away due to a dip in the floor, provide infill bits under formwork.
  1. Spread a thin layer of sand on the surface. Since it is a water tank, you don’t need a vapour barrier, however, sand assists in drainage beneath the slab. It’ll be kept by the enclosing ground once formwork is eliminated.
  1. Cut strengthening mesh as needed utilising a set of bolt cutters or an angle grinder. Its final size ought to be 40-50 mm brief of formwork around so it is never exposed to air, which will let it corrode. In case it has to be combined, go beyond the net by 200mm and utilise 1.25-millimetre tie wire and pliers to twist the cable to combine bars.
  1. Place mesh in formwork and increase to the centre of elevation utilising 50-65mm bar seats. Support formwork so that it doesn’t sag.
  1. Employing premixed bags of concrete, combine enough concrete for the slab; here, 20-21 bags. Utilising hired cement mixer, then add 6 litres of water to the container, then add 3 bags of mixture. (On average you’ll need 2 litres of water for 1 bag of mixture.) Mix until uniform in look, then pour into a wheelbarrow to pour to formwork. Since it’s a narrow area, disperse concrete to other finish with a short-handled shovel. Insert more concrete until it’s about 10mm over formwork level.Tip! Buy a modest additional concrete to permit for wastage, spillage and any flaws in floor. You would not want to leave whatever you were doing to purchase another bag or two near the end of the pour.
  1. Use a brief span of 90 x 35mm or like tamp concrete to corners and borders of formwork to eliminate air, then apply it around the top of formwork by screeding concrete out and finish by means of a sawing and chopping movement. Work in a single movement, leaving a smooth but fairly wet surface as you move. When you’re delighted with the level, allow the cement to set and shed its surface or bleed excess water (typically a couple of hours).
  1. Once surface water has vanished, trowel surface using a wooden float to get a somewhat rough, sandy finish. Utilise an advanced instrument to around borders for a neat look that otherwise can be brittle. Tool at a dummy joint halfway across the slab to help control the cracking. Eliminate formwork.
  1. Place the tank on a concrete foundation and begin making connections. You’ll need to cut to down-pipe which will provide the tank with the water, ideally only under the gutter. Install rainwater head with leaf shield. This has a nice net to make sure most unwanted particles have been expelled to the exterior of the water-collection system. You will also want to take note of the positions of each pipe, which would make it easier for you, in the long run, should there be a need for pipe relining.
  1. In the headset, run 90mm pipes in a slight downward angle to T joiner provided with initial flush diverter kit, situated next to the tank. Then continue pipe to the tank. Put in a 1800mm-high x 90mm pipe join as a primary flush room. In the bottom of the chamber, put in chunk float mechanism. When it rains, filthy wash off the roof will enter the chamber till ball floats too high and blocks the hands, where time wash water then flows to the tank. Water is discharged slowly from this room over time so that it could do its job the next time it rains.
  1. Continuing on to the tank, add in an elbow so that the water flows into the grate on top of the tank and add a filter, leaving sufficient space so the filter could be removed and cleaned. Integrate an overflow pipe that acts as the pump for the rainwater tank into the outlet. Lastly, connect it to a stormwater system.
  1. In the bottom, utilise poly fittings and inline poly ball valve to carry water to where it’s to be properly used and closed off if needed.  At the other end, install a wall socket and a space for a garden tap.
  2. Should you feel the need for additional help, do not hesitate to talk to the water tank supplier. Most of them would be able to provide you with an engineering consultation or at least direct you to someone who can.

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